Today, people use many different types of pillows to try and get a good night's sleep. These various types of pillows employ different materials, textures, and comfort levels to account for variations in what people prefer in a pillow. But nearly all pillows have one thing in common, microorganism growth and allergen accumulation.
Many pillow makers have concentrated on comfort as a leading factor in developing pillows, rather than managing microorganism growth. One technique for managing pillow microorganisms is to have the pillow cleaned. However, current pillow designs are often difficult to clean, which results in un-effective microorganism management. Some pillow designs make claims of being washable in conventional washing machines. Unfortunately, most of these previous washable pillows suffer from similar problems, such as: 1) unable to effectively get hot water and air to penetrate to the core of the pillow in such a manner to kill the bacteria and molds, while giving comfort and quality that is essential to sleep; 2) failing to allow a pillow to wash and dry quick enough to finish in one cycle; 3) requiring the use two pillows to balance a washing machine, or the use other items (e.g., tennis balls) to beat the pillow clean; and 4) only partially drying the center of the pillow.
Often, pillows with regular polyester, feathers, and/or down fill are difficult to dry, let alone wash. Similarly, pillow cases made out of higher density materials (e.g., 300, 200 or 100 count cotton, synthetic, blended, or other tightly woven materials) typically hamper the penetratability of water and air to the center of the pillow.
Some companies have turned to chemicals along with various materials to try and solve some of the problems with washing pillows. However, these chemicals/materials have a tendency to settle and make the pillow uncomfortable. Also, some companies have tried to make pillows having foam materials with washable cases. But many times the foam can only be spot cleaned or dry cleaned. Yet other products that are made of plastics can be brittle, and often do not have the right combination of cushion, conformability, shape adjustability, and high quality cleaning capability. Previously, the predominant outlook of pillow cleaning has been that pillows can only be cleaned on the surface and not deep inside. What is needed is a pillow which offers superior cushioning, form fit, overall shape and support, is easy to thoroughly clean, and the ability of the user to reach inside the core to really feel that it dry. Thus, it is with respect to these and other considerations that the invention has been made.